I had dropped down to Ship Creek several times before, so I knew what I was getting myself into. What really surprised me about this ski traverse was how difficult the seemingly FLAT half of the 23 mile traverse was! I can't even imagine how difficult it would be for the first people of the season to venture out and find/create the trail for the season. It weaved in and out of the woods, as a surprising amount of Ship Creek, even after an especially cold winter, was still open water.
The downhill portions, from the Arctic Valley Trailhead (about a mile before the ski area) down to Ship Creek, and from the top of Indian Pass to Indian, were more difficult than I had imagined as well. The areas under the trees were icy, and the trail had steep sections followed by abrupt turns, which made for a mentally exhausting trip. Laura stopped about halfway down saying she needed a "mental sanity break".
However, this is going full-speed. We finished in 7.5 hours, and were going at a solid clip on the uphills. I've known many people that have done this traverse that are not very good on skis, and they simply took their skis off whenever they felt uncomfortable. They finished in the 10-11 hour timeframe.
After skiing 3 miles from the Arctic Valley Trailhead, this is where the trail meets Ship Creek for the first time. If this section of creek isn't frozen, there is another trail that shoots to the left at this exact location that you can follow for another 2-3 miles.
There is a lot of open water, and sections that are a little interesting to get around
This is the only steep uphill section of the entire traverse, approximately 3 miles before the top of the pass.
The one single sign showing that we're on the route we want to be on!
Looking back at Ship Creek Valley from the top of Indian Pass
Dropping down into Indian. While we were going fast, this section seemed to take a lot longer than I'd have imagined, and was mentally exhausting!
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